Against Me! @ The Town Ballroom, April 24

A few weeks ago my dad and I roadtripped to Buffalo, New York To see one of my favourite bands ever, Against Me. I`ve been a been a HUGE Against Me Fan for al;most two years now, and if it wasn`t for them, I doubt I`d have this blog about concerts. They are one of the most iconic punk band of the decade, however their more recent work isn`t as appraised by their fans. In my opinion since the lead singer Tom Gabel started Against Me! as a solo act in 1997 to today, each has been very solid, but has gotten cleaner and cleaner throughout all their releases. Unfortunatley since the release of New Wave in 2007, a good portion of their fanbase gave up on them because of their more radio friendly sound.

They opened the the show with High Pressure Low, a track off their new album White Crosses, which hits stores June 8th. The album leaked in March, and the frontman Tom Gabel posted all the lyrics on his blog soon after. Quite a few people sang along, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, but you could tell that everybody wanted the older stuff.

The second song, Don't Lost Touch, was slightly older. It was released on their last record, Fat Wreck Chords, before signing to the major label--Sire Records. This is one of those songs that has a really catchy bass line, and everybody can sing happily. That's exactly how the crowd reacted, jumping up and down and singing along. The band followed with a great mix of songs from their discography.

A pleasant surprise was when they played Amputations, which is off Tom Gabel's solo EP, released in October 2008. As much as I love Against Me!, there's no denying that their energy has diminished. In the past they were known for their high energy in the punk world, and they still have great energy for a rock band, but it's just not the same. Their new drummer as of last year, George Rebelio has a lot of respect in the punk world for being the drummer for Hot Water Music, but even he can't replace Against Me's old drummer Warren Oakes, who left the band last June. George is no doubt a great drummer, but he just doesn't have the same energy and intesnity as drummer like Warren. It feels like there's a missing peice trying to be covered up by a shiny new one, but it just doesn't feel right.

As much as Tom and the rest of the band seem to enjoy touring, from the look on their faces, you could tell they were having fun, but they just wanted to be home. I noticed that the earlier the song was in their discography, the better the crowd's reaction was. For example, when they played the title trak off their major label debut, New Wave, people sang along, and an easy paced mosh was going on, but when they played Pints of guiness Make You Stronger the crowd went absolutley insane almost outsinging the band. It was that song that brought every single person in the crowd together. I'm sure that made the night of all the old school Against Me's fans who can't stand that night. Against Me is one of those bands,where you only need to love one album by them, and hate all the rest, butyou would still support them because of how good that album is. It was a great show, even though Against Me don't have quarter of the engery they used to.

Florence and the Machine @ The Kool Haus, April 10th

Florence Welch AKA Florence and the machine has had an insane year. She released her debut album Lungs in the UK in July, and in less than a month of its release, the album sold over 100,000 copies. She made her Toronto debut at the mod club in November. Soon after it was announced she would play the Phoenix on April 10th. It sold out in less than week. because of overwhelming demand, the show was moved to the Kool Haus which can fit twice the amount of people that the Phoenix can. Soon after more tickets were released, it sold out once again.

At around 10:12 p.m., Florence's band usually referred to as "The Machine" got on stage and got in their places. Two minutes later, fiery red headed Florence Welch walked on to the stage wearing a funny kind of hat. She picked up a pair of drum sticks and then started banging on the bass drum in front of her, which lead into the fourth track of her S/T record, Howl. The second song that was played was her rock n roll hit single, Kiss With a Fist. That was the song that really got the crowd excited as Florence jumped and dance around the stage to her high energy pop anthem. At the end of almost every song, Florence would put on her hat, and then take it off again before getting into a new song. Her backing band, The Machine was made up of 5 musicians. For the most part a typical band lineup: guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist, and then a guy playing the harp, which is totally rare. The man would pick it and it made more of guitar like but enchanting sound which flowed with the band quite gracefully, but more so with Florence's powerful voice. Florence seemed really comfortable with her band as she completely moved with the music. Every step she took was along with the beat. After almost an hour of playing they played one of her most popular songs, Dogs days are over, The crowd went absolutely nuts as the harpist plucked the opening tune, and at the chorus everybody was shouting "The Dog Days are over!" while jumping up and down. Right before they played their last song (Rabbit Heart), Florence was completely enthusiastic and overjoyed by the crowds reaction (this seemed to be a vice-versa feeling between her and the crowd) and thanked them for helping her get out of her touring blues. She closed the show of with one of her most powerful songs, Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up). Whenever she put up her hand the crowd would yell out "Raise it Up" feeding her with more energy to end the show with a bang. After this concert at the Kool Haus, there's no doubt she'll be back, but at a bigger venue which will most likely sell out as well.